Fiesta ST (White) Full Detail

[Nick Goodall]

This was a mates car that i'd said i would detail before Christmas but due to weather conditions it was delayed until today.

It was dropped off to me at 8am so i got cracking. This is how it arrived, as you can see there was a LOT of Tar spots and general dirt that really shows up on White paint.















First step was to give it a good covering of Snow Foam, and while this was left to soak i went round the car with some G101 and a detailing brush to tackle the badges, vents, grils and door shuts.

The car was then rinsed off with the pressure washer, it removed a lot of the dirt but was still fairly bad.





I then hand-washed with some Zymol Auto-wash and a Meg's Lambswool mitt (and 2 AB Buckets with Grit guards).

I then set about the wheels using AB Very Cherry and a few brushes, these were coming up great but could do with a refurb really.

The car was now looking a lot better, but still had lots of Tar and lots of areas i could tell would only come clean with clay so first step was to soak the panels in Tardis and rinse / wipe off one at a time. Once this was done i then started to Clay the whole car using CYC blue clay, with AS Reglaze used as clay lube.

This clay really works well for me, it's only cheap but just does the job really well. The car was now left looking excellent, claying took a while longer then usual but the car was particularly bad - there were these orange spots all over which i've only seen once before on a White Astra Nurburgring, it's almost like Rust particles on the surface but i wouldn't want to say for sure what they are but luckily it all came off anyway.

Now the weather was looking a tad dodgy but i decided to quickly dry off outside using some Meg's Last Touch and Blue drying towels and then got it in the garage quick sharp before the weather turned.

I masked up the whole car and started out with 3M Ultrfine Polish with a matching yellow pad. This was working great so i got a few 50/50 shots and then carried on around the whole car. The only thing i had to do was step up to Fast cut plus on the rear bumper as it appears the car had some sort of smart repair which had left a dark line where the repair was obviously done when the car still had the blue stripes on it. Amazingly Fast Cut plus got through this in no time so i refined it with Ultrafine and it was left good as new.











After the whole car was polished i removed all the tape, and wiped the whole thing down with some Meg's Last touch, but then used a product i was sent to test which was Eureka Waterless cleaner. I applied all over the car using one new MF cloth and then went round and buffed with a seperate new cloth, this seemed to work excellently and removed all polish residue and dust.

I had just received some Zaino Z-2 Pro Sealant so decided this was a great car to try it on, it went on lovely and WHAT A SMELL, it was gorgeous!!!!

While this was left to cure i thought i'd give my Detailing Van (Golf) a quick clean using this Eureka Waterless cleaner and i was really REALLY impressed with it, it left such a glossy finish on the car i couldn't quite believe it. I just sprayed a panel at a time, left it for 15 seconds or so and then wiped with a clean side of a MF Cloth,, did this over each panel at a time and then went round with a Eurow Deep pile cloth and buffed the whole thing leaving a really nice finish. I'm no exaggerating but this car hadn't been washed in at least 6 weeks!

Few quick pics of the Golf




Back to the Fiesta, now it had been left for 30 mins or so i buffed off the Z-2 and it really did leave a stunning shine

I hope this will last a long time as i've heard it can last up to 12 months if washed correctly.

[Nick Goodall]

Part2:





















I then took the car outside to clean the Glass with AS 20/20 and dressed the Tyres with Meg's Endurance tyre gel. Front and rear plastics were cleaned with 303 Cleaner, then protected with the 303 Protectant and the Exhaust was polished with Autosol, some 00 Gauge Wirewool and a MF cloth.

I then gave the car one final wipedown with Zaino Z-8 to give that perfect finish i was aiming for. The pics are below, and i'm really pleased with how it came up as was the owner when he collected it.

Thanks for reading!

[Nick Goodall]

Final few pics:

[Dombrasky]

Nice work nick,you certainly know how to get a good finish,as a matter of interest what do you charge, the site in your sig doesnt seem to work

[Nick Goodall]

Originally Posted by Dombrasky

Nice work nick,you certainly know how to get a good finish,as a matter of interest what do you charge, the site in your sig doesnt seem to work

Yeah sorry, the site's not quite finished yet.

Prices depend on the car really, and exactly what you'd want doing but for something like the above i'd charge between £80-£100 on a Fiesta / Corsa / Clio etc

[Ash.]

That looks stunning
Id like to get my fez detailed one day

[DerbyDan]

Yet another stunning 'detail'! What a transformation!

Nick, I must thank you for pointing me in the direction of the Autobright website... I brought one of their fluffy towels & a Meguires lambs wool mitt - its actually revolutionised car washing for me, not only does the mitt get in all those awkward to get areas it seems that less water is needed to wash the car - added to the benefit of avoiding dragging grit & dirt around on the paint causing those swirls & scratches. The towel is the biggest eye opener for me... for years I've been using chamoix leathers to dry off my cars, but it doesn't take long to saturate a leather, so with much wringing out it takes so long to fully dry off a car - the towel I just wipe over - & hey presto its dry! It soaks up water that gets in those gaps (between bumper/body joints around lights etc) So I can see why a professional valeter would use one - when you want to dry a car fully in preparation for polish & waxing.

Would love to get you to do my car (Integra Type R) one time, mines been machine polished at some point, but I think, not very well